Slow Mo Zombies! (No Uniques Needed|Relaxed Playstyle|Easy to Gear|Anyone Can Play|All Content)[3.5]

Very, cool build.

I played Necromancer when I first started. I think I got to level 86 or so.

Was thinking of playing Enki's Arc Witch in the new league but now I see this.
Going to start this tonight and see how it goes. I am playing on Xbox so I have a couple of extra days before the new league starts there.

But I might just get the PC going again to play the new league this weekend.
(I am even thinking of taking Friday off work)

The thresh hold jewels are cheap and I have had 3 drop on my current Arc Witch in the past week so, it seems it is fairly common as well. But the run to Act 5 is not that bad to get a second one.

I concur on the using SRS its nice bit of extra damage to use when starting a boss fight, Essence crystal thing, strongboxes.

Keep up the good work.

This is going to be my first time leveling as a necro and my first time not using Enki's step by step guide. /gulp

Could you possibly show via screenshots or PoB where our tree should be at certain breaking points? Level 20, 40, 60 and 80, perhaps? I never know where to put skillpoints as I go and that's what disuades me/makes me feel like my character is super missing out on things while I'm leveling.

Your guide is wonderful! Thanks for all the great explanations. I love not only knowing what to use, but why.

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Katalaeia wrote:

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Wozmon wrote:

I really want to give this build a try as my SSF starter. However, the need for two threshold jewels is a concern, especially as I don't want to mule another character to act V just to grab the second Violent Dead.

Don't let the mention of two Violent Deads put you off from the build! It's a "nice to have" thing, not a "MUST HAVE" thing for sure.

I tried this build for the first time for the final three weeks of Delve (after a 3+ year hiatus from the game) and only had one jewel. I had zero issues, but only made it as far as low tier maps before the league ended. I bet I died less than 5 times from level 1-78. You can see my character on my profile if you like, as a reference.

I'll be sticking with this build as my Betrayal opener for sure, and if I get to the point of feeling any kind of pinch due to missing a second jewel, getting a second character to Act 5 is still more efficient than waiting on RNG to drop one. (Or if you prefer to trade, I can't imagine it would be that hard to get your hands on a second jewel. I just prefer not to trade.)

Thank for your comments. I'll be in the SSF league so trading will not be an option. I'll give the build some more consideration and see how I feel come Friday. Definitely attracted to the playstyle though!

You start off with Raise Zombies. I assume you need to use another skill to get corpses. What skills do you use for leveling?

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jackieh917 wrote:

This is going to be my first time leveling as a necro and my first time not using Enki's step by step guide. /gulp

Could you possibly show via screenshots or PoB where our tree should be at certain breaking points? Level 20, 40, 60 and 80, perhaps? I never know where to put skillpoints as I go and that's what disuades me/makes me feel like my character is super missing out on things while I'm leveling.

Your guide is wonderful! Thanks for all the great explanations. I love not only knowing what to use, but why.

This passive tree is not bad to follow. So here is what I will be doing.

1) Make your way over to Grave Intentions to get first notable Node.
2) Make your way over to Lord of the Dead to get second notable Node.
3) Get the Heart and Soul and the 2 mana and life nodes there.
4) Make your way up to the Death Attument notable Node

This here is 30 Passive points used.

5) Curse's you can get at around level 24. So at this point, you can make your way over to the Whisper of Doom Notable node, This will allow you to use 2 curses. But be careful as mana may be an issue at this point when reserving mana for both of them. So only run 1 for now or both if you can.
6) Make your way down to Quick Recovery Notable Node.
7) Get your 1 first Jewel Socket. (you only use 1 passive to get this compared to using 2 to get the other one above Lord of the Dead, save that one for later when you get your second Violent Dead Jewel)
8) Make your way down to Elemental Equilibrium node.
9) Make your way to the Scion Life nodes (This is the largest life section on the passive tree and is worth getting)

This here is 50 passive points used.

10) Finish of the Scion life nodes.
11) Get the Minion and Curse nodes that you passed to get to the Scion Life nodes.
12) Here you have a choice. Go over and get more minion nodes and life for yourself or get more Curse and Energy Shield. (My pick is more Minion Damage/ Life and Attack Speed and more life for me)
13) Get all the nodes in this area and make your way over to Purity of Flesh.

This here puts you at 84 passives used.

14) Get the life Nodes of Purity of flesh and then make your way down to the Large minion Damage nodes.

This puts you at 102 passives used.

As the guide does not mention which Bandits to help or kill all, I am not including these passive points.

So 102 - 21 passive points from game story give you level 81 at this point.

The third Jewel slot and all other nodes you can add on as you continue to level.

But remember this is a guide and you can do what you want as you go along. If your Zombies are dying or not killing fast enough then go for their Damage and Life nodes. If you are dying then get more life on your gear and go for more life nodes for yourself.


@triniparty might level this build in a different way and have a better idea then I might as I have not played this build yet. This is just my plan I have at looking at the passive tree he has laid out for us.

Just had a chance to read through the build. Very complete and exciting guide. I'm really looking forward to playing it. I have arthritis in my hands and I'm not as quick as I used to be, so a build like this is just the thing I need to be able to enjoy PoE.

I really appreciate all you've done here.

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0sync0 wrote:

You start off with Raise Zombies. I assume you need to use another skill to get corpses. What skills do you use for leveling?

I'm not sure about others, but I kept Frost Bomb around for a good while to help with this (and to help while my zombies were still weak). Once I moved on from that I was far enough into the game where I could just go back to A1 and kill some mobs outside town to get starter zombies each time I logged in.

Other than Frost Bomb at lower levels, my zombies did all the work. I was fortunate to find 4-linked gear relatively easily so I just added gems as they became available. On the passive tree I prioritized minion-related nodes for the most part (especially the notables that gave me more zombies) and occasionally grabbing some extra health for myself.

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Katalaeia wrote:

"

0sync0 wrote:

You start off with Raise Zombies. I assume you need to use another skill to get corpses. What skills do you use for leveling?

I'm not sure about others, but I kept Frost Bomb around for a good while to help with this (and to help while my zombies were still weak). Once I moved on from that I was far enough into the game where I could just go back to A1 and kill some mobs outside town to get starter zombies each time I logged in.

Other than Frost Bomb at lower levels, my zombies did all the work. I was fortunate to find 4-linked gear relatively easily so I just added gems as they became available. On the passive tree I prioritized minion-related nodes for the most part (especially the notables that gave me more zombies) and occasionally grabbing some extra health for myself.

You can use Desecrate to make corpses and call up to 5 zombies from them. If not then yeah you have to go to another act and just kill some low-level monsters.
I like to have SRS around it do this with.

Keep Desecrate and SRS in Second weapon slot and all you have to do is swap them out to make more zombies. Or you can use unset rings later in the game to put those in them and have them around all the time with no weapon swap.

Be sure to not have your Curses or Auras on your weapons or shield gem slots. As you will have to reactivate them again if you do.

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jackieh917 wrote:

This is going to be my first time leveling as a necro and my first time not using Enki's step by step guide. /gulp

Could you possibly show via screenshots or PoB where our tree should be at certain breaking points? Level 20, 40, 60 and 80, perhaps? I never know where to put skillpoints as I go and that's what disuades me/makes me feel like my character is super missing out on things while I'm leveling.

Unlike some builds, I don't know that it's possible to really screw up the passive tree for this setup. The guidelines provided in the OP are really all you need. One of the things I like about this build is that you see the "completed" tree but it's entirely up to you how you get there, so you can take whatever you think you need the most at any given time.

@x-Peleus-x has some good ideas for filling out the tree. Here's how I started mine:

1. Straight to Grave Intentions for +2 Zombies
2. Then to Lord of the Dead for +1 Zombie
3. Then to Death Attunement for +1 Zombie

That takes 24 points. After this I spread around more, investing in a lot of +minion stat nodes and getting some health and mana for myself. I also unlocked the Jewel socket right near the start so I could immediately put Volatile Dead in there when I got to Act 5.

I didn't take Gravepact (+1 Zombie) for quite a while, and for the new league I might focus on it sooner, but I was still quite durable by this point so it didn't make much difference for me.

I did not prioritize the Scion health area. If you look at my tree I've still only got two nodes taken there at level 78. I'm not having any issues staying alive.

I would recommend going for those first two nodes whenever you decide to unlock Elemental Equilibrium and after that you can continue to take more if you notice you're having trouble staying alive. If you're not having survivability issues, invest elsewhere and you can always come back when you need to since you've already got access to that cluster.

Hope this helps :)

Hey Wozmon! Thanks for the post!

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Wozmon wrote:

I really want to give this build a try as my SSF starter. However, the need for two threshold jewels is a concern, especially as I don't want to mule another character to act V just to grab the second Violent Dead. Going to have to give it some thought.

Brilliant build and great guide. Thank you for putting it together.

I didn't really realize I had the second Violent Dead as a requirement. I've changed that now to be completely optional. Now that I've added skeletons to this build, the second Violent Dead is even more optional.

The Zombie Slam is awesome, and the more it goes off, the better. With one Violent Dead jewel, each zombie will do the slam every 1.67 seconds. With two jewels, it'll go off every 1.25 seconds. Just a perk. By no means vital or important.

I hope you enjoy the build! Feel free to ask more or provide feedback anytime! Thanks again for the compliments.